Please RSVP for lecture and seminars at sapientparadox.eventbrite.com
Lecture:
Monday, 11/14, 5pm
Reception follows talk
Intelligent purposive behaviour is a feature of many species. Yet systematic engagement with the material world takes on a new dimension with the systematic production of tools. Why it took so long for this to develop into more impressive aspects of behaviour seen with the first village communities constitutes the sapient paradox. It will be argued that within the new social relations that then developed lie the key foundations of mind.
Related seminar:
Tuesday, 11/15, 10am-12pm
Ahmadieh Family Lecture Hall
Measure as a Metric of Mind
Mind is a difficult property to discern and to pin down in early prehistoric communities. Yet the practice of measure, sometimes involving the use of recognisable units, is a valuable indicator.
This event is presented by “The Ancient Mind: Neuroarchaeology,” a Humanities Futures working group, and is generously cosponsored by the Department of Art, Art History, and Visual Studies; the Department of Classical Studies; and the Wired! Lab, all at Duke University.
THE SAPIENT PARADOX: SOME REFERENCES
Donald M. 1991. . Origins of the modern mind. Harvard University Press; Cambridge MA
Forster P. 2004. Ice ages and the mitochondrial DNA chronology of human dispersals: a review. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B. 359:255–264. doi:10.1098/rstb.2003.1394 [PMC free article] [PubMed]
Malafouris L. 2004. The cognitive basis of material engagement: where brain, body and culture conflate. In: DeMarrais E, Gosden C, Renfrew C, editors. Rethinking materiality: the engagement of mind with the material world. McDonald Institute; Cambridge, UK: 2004. pp. 53–62.
Malafouris L. 2013. How things shape the mind: a theory of material engagement. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
McBrearty S. and Brooks A.S. 2000. The revolution that wasn’t: a new interpretation of the origins of modern human behaviour. J. Hum. Evol. 39 : 453–563. doi:10.1006/jhev.2000.0435 [PubMed]
Mellars P. and Stringer C, editors. 1989. The human revolution, behavioural and biological perspectives on the origins of modern humans. Edinburgh University Press; Edinburgh, UK.
Mellars P, Boyle K, Bar-Yosef O, and Stringer C, editors.2007. Rethinking the human revolution. McDonald Institute; London, UK.
Mithen S. 1996. The prehistory of the mind. London; Thames & Hudson.
Morley I. and Renfrew C. editors. 2010. The archaeology of measurement: comprehending heaven, earth and time in ancient societies. Cambridge University Press; Cambridge.
Renfrew C. 1982. Towards an archaeology of mind (inaugural lecture). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Renfrew C. 1996. The sapient behaviour paradox: how to test for potential? In: Mellars P, and Gibson K, editors. Modelling the early human mind. McDonald Institute; Cambridge. pp. 11–15.
Renfrew C. 2001. Symbol before concept: material engagement and the early development of society. In: Hodder I, editor. Archaeological theory today. Polity Press; Cambridge, UK. pp. 122–140.
Renfrew C. 2003. Figuring it out. Thames & Hudson; London
Renfrew C. 2004. Towards a theory of material engagement. In: DeMarrais E, Gosden C, and Renfrew C, editors. Rethinking materiality: the engagement of mind with the material world. McDonald Institute; Cambridge, UK:. pp. 23–32.
Renfrew C. 2006. Becoming human: the archaeological challenge. Proc. Br. Acad. 139:217–238.
Renfrew C., 2008 Neuroscience, evolution and the sapient paradox: the factuality of value and of the sacred. Phil Trans R. Soc B Biol Sci 363, 2041-2047
Renfrew C. 2007. Prehistory, the making of the human mind. Weidenfeld & Nicolson; London
Renfrew C. and Zubrow E, editors. 1994. The ancient mind. Cambridge University Press; Cambridge.
Searle J. 1995. The construction of social reality. Penguin Press; Harmondsworth.
